At his new restaurant, Bar Ama, Josef Centeno looks to celebrate and honor the food of his youth, the food he grew up eating at the hands of his mother and grandmother. There's also a sense that some of what Bar Ama celebrates is not home cooking but the giddily delicious cheese and meat glop served in cheap restaurants in Texas. What Centeno ultimately gives us is an extremely fun downtown restaurant that feels like both a love letter to his youth and a testament to his present status as one of L.A.'s most engaging chefs.